Exploring the Caverns

On the Wildfire, a comsignal came through; apparently arriving through from the cavern where the other half of the away team was thought to be.

James Traynor was sitting at the helm when the signal arrived. He immediately contacted Josh Vincent.

As he stood above the active tricorder, Josh had just arrived to the homing beacon signal when he heard the voice of the helmsman come through his helmet speakers.

"Hey Lieutenant Commander, I just received a communication ding from the away team. From what I can see, it emanated from inside that hillside right in front of where you are positioned."

Josh was staring at the slanted hillside wall right before him as he activated his com.

"See if you can patch me through to them James. I am most likely standing in front of the entrance, but I don't see anything."

Traynor reached down and interconnect the com signals from his console.

"I believe I've connected you to the team in there. Try contacting them and see what happens."

"Acknowledged. See if you can also set up an emergency transport on their signals... just in case."

"Aulder and I will get right on that, Sir. Traynor out."

Re-activating his com, the security chief attempted to contact the away team inside the cave area.

"Josh Vincent to the away team... reply if you can hear me."

Tapping his combadge Riker responded.

"This is Commander Riker.  I can hear you.  Proceed with message."

 "I am currently standing outside of the apparent entranceway. How the heck did you get in there? Josh inquired to the way team inside the caverns.

Glancing over towards Kalynda Hunter, Riker nodded for her to join in the communication. 

After a nod from Riker was given, Kalynda Hunter linked into the conversation and explained the process of how to unveil the entryway. Josh already knew how to key in the activation sequence, so that explanation wouldn't be necessary. As he completed the steps, he could now clearly see the entryway.

"Commander Riker" Josh continued "I have the entrance panel now in sight. Just so you know, Aulder and Traynor are working on locking in you all in for emergency transport. Also, I set up pattern enhancers just outside of the shuttle. We now have communication and transportation with the Phoenix. They are in an orbital position directly above our landing site."

Kalynda then cut in again.

"Lieutenant Commander, could you contact the Captain and request that he transport down any available linguistics and symbolic decoding experts? We have found much more alien glyphs, symbols, language-like markings throughout a vast configuration of technology down here, and we are clueless on how to interpret any of it."

Anita Muller then cut into the conversation.

"But we have yet to find any biosigns anywhere down here... except our own of course."

"Acknowledged away team" Josh confirmed."Standby as I relay this information to the Captain."

*             *             *

After receiving the information and the request from Josh Vincent, Captain Syntron was in his Ready Room studying the crew manifest for probable candidates to join the away team.

After perusing swiftly through the manifest, the captain came upon a potential candidate.

Syntron then brought up a basic crew member summary file on this individual:

Name                  Alenis Leeta

Department          Science

Position               Language Specialist

Rank                    Lieutenant JG

Gender                 Female

Species                Betazoid

Age                      25

Place of Birth        Janaran Falls, Betazed

Height                  5' 4"

Weight                 106 lbs

Hair Color             brown

Eye Color             green

Skin Color            fair

Field of Study       Science

Specialty              Linguistics and Cultural Symbolism

Year of Graduation          2405

This all seemed rather generic for her position, but what really stood out was a brief but intriguingdescription of her interests:

Decrypting complex ciphers, codes, symbols and patterns from a variety of planets and species throughout the Federation.

Syntron immediately contacted the linguistics officer and arranged for her arrival in five minutes.

*             *             *

Alenis Leeta was sipping a cup of tea in the Arboretum near her quarters on deck 10 when the call came in unexpectedly from the captain of the ship.  It was kind of a blur in her mind right now as she zipped back to her quarters and donned a new science uniform and swiftly touched up her appearance. 

As she headed into the turbolift, she was retracing all of the things that had transpired over the past few days and then the past few weeks.

Then a swirl of random questions darted around her furiously active mind.

Did I miss a duty? Was there a complaint about my performance? Am I being reassigned?

As the thoughts continued to swirl, her fixation on what was going on was flashed away as the lift stopped and the doors suddenly swooshed opened to deck 1.

She cautiously steeped out onto the main bridge and walked back to the Captain's Ready Room. Having never been up here before she had to call up a layout of the ship before she left her cabin so that she didn't embarrass herself by having to ask for directions when she arrived to the bridge.  At least she thought of that before arriving here.

She stood in front of the door, took several deep breaths and closed her eyes for a moment before engaging the chime.

From the other side of the door, a voice beckoned for her to enter. She stepped forward with her arms folded behind her as she positioned herself before the stoic yet imposing Vulcan captain.

Looking up at him, she announced "Lieutenant junior grade Alenis Leeta reporting as ordered, Captain."

Standing behind his desk, Syntron gestured to the petite officer.

"Please be seated Lieutenant Leeta"

Alenis immediately complied and strived to sit as erect as possibly so that she didn't appear so diminutive by comparison.

In a typical Vulcan manner Syntron got right to the point as his gaze switched between the Betazoid and his viewscreen.

"Your records indicate a proclivity toward decoding and deciphering complex symbols,  patterns, glyphs and other related artifacts. Is this correct Lieutenant?"

The stress level in Alenis was just reduced a thousand-fold as the captain inquired about the aspect of her life that she was most passionate about.

"Yes Captain. This has be an obsession of sorts since I was a child on Betazed. It probably started when..."

Syntron held up a hand to indicate that he wasn't asking for a detained history, but merely a confirmation.

He then pushed a PADD in front of her and simply stated "Perhaps you could take a look at this."

Alenis stared in wonderment at the markings captured at the three spires visited by the away team.

"These are fascinating Captain" she uttered as she continued to examine the various symbols more closely.

"Apparently Lieutenant Leeta, these are just a sampling of what exists below on the planetoid. A message from our chief science officer indicated that they have discovered a cavern full of ancient alien technology adorned with an array of this unknown language symbolism. Do you believe that you could assist in breaking the language barrier to some of this coded information?"

Her eyes full of wonder, she nevertheless looked seriously at the Captain as she spoke.

"Sir, this is the type of mission that I have literally trained my entire life for. I cannot guarantee that I will be successful in my attempt, but I can guarantee that I will do whatever I can possibly do to unlock at least some answers here."  

Syntron then stood up.

"I cannot expect any more than that Lieutenant. I will have our Operations officer Adalia Valerous prepare an environmental suit for you. Report to Transporter Room 1 on deck 3 in five minutes.

"Yes Sir!" Alenis Leeta responded with enthusiasm brimming in her voice.

"Be careful down there Lieutenant. This is still an alien world with a hostile climate"

"Understood Captain" Alenis stated, eager to get started.

"Dismissed."

The Bajoran nearly flew out of the room and back to the turbolift.

She still held the PADD that the captain presented to her as the lift doors opened to deck three.

She walked briskly up to the crewman standing at the transporter controls.

"Lieutenant junior grade Alenis Leeta reporting for transport as ordered!"

From the side, a junior officer came up to her with an environmental suit draped over his arms and presented it to her.

With a small smirk on his face, he commented "You may want to put this on first Lieutenant, unless you want to arrive down to the surface as a popsicle."  

*             *             *

After Josh Vincent received the message the Phoenix Ops officer regarding the Baloran linguist, he notified the away team in the cavern and then headed back to the shuttle to meet up with her when she arrived.

As soon as he reached the shuttle, Vincent imediately checked on the status and positiong of the pattern enhancers. He did not want anything wrong to occur during transport. Satisfied that everything checked out accordingly, he stepped back a few paces from the triangular configuration and waited.

Within only a few moments, a trilateral aqua-marine glow formed along the tips of the enhancers as a figure suddenly shimmered into its center.  She stood there for a moment as her arms seemed to be taking inventory on all of her extremities. With everything obvious accounted for, the uniformed Bajoran scientist stepped out of the lighted corral and extended a gloved hand to the security chief."

"Lieutenant Commander Vincent, I presume?"

Returning the formal gesture, he responded as their gloved hands briely shook.

"In the flesh... well... at least beneath this suit that is."

Without hesitation, she introduced herself.

"I am Lieutenant junior grade Alenis Leeta. I am here to study the markings and such that your team has discovered."

Josh Vincent then gestured her to follow him as they spoke.

"Well Lieutenant, there are a variety of markings on and below the spires we have encountered, but I will escort you to an opening into a cavern where our away team has apparently discovered a plethora of ancient symbols and such inside a vast chamber of some kind. I haven't even see them myself. We just returned from temporarily deactivating transporter inhibitors of three nearby spires, when the request came from the away team to enlist someone on the ship with your skills to assist them."   

They approached the hillside and Josh Vincent enacted the process to unveil the entryway once again. He then keyed in the activation sequence, and the rumbling of the entrance proceeded. He repeated the process within the foyer and they eventually made their way into the first chamber.

The security chief than instructed Alenis Leeta to adjust her visor's frequency to 245 nm region of the electromagnetic spectrum and the visibility into the ultraviolet wavelength suddenly popped in to view from all of the walls, control panels, gauges, and a variety of other unknown instrumentation within the darkened room into a dramatic series of vibrant glowing colors.

"Wow" was all that the Bajoran linguist could utter as she tried to take in all of this vast brilliant vista that surrounded her. At first she just slowly spun around as she gazed at all of the tantalizing imagery that encompassed and almost overwhelmed her aesthetic sense. Then she felt the tears spilling down her cheeks. She didn't even know exactly why this was occurring. Maybe she was just overwhelmed by the magnitude of this treasure surrounding her or maybe this was the fulfillment of a childhood dream. She just closed her eyes for a moment and tried to regain her composure.

On a few feet away, Josh Vincent was oblivious of the effect this area was having on the Bajoran as he activated his combadge.

"Hey Commander Riker. I'm here now in this first chamber with Alenis Leeta, the linguist that you requested."

Tapping his combadge Riker responded.

"Glad to hear it.  Take her to the first set of markers, the ones in the original chamber and have her get to work"

Looking around at the scope of the rooms.

"I only want a short time, two or three hours at most however.  I know translation is not easy but we can not be here forever"

Alenis spent the first several hours in the original main chamber of the cavern closely examining the walls and panels very carefully as she documented and took notes on anything significant she found and patterns that she discovered. She also scrutinized the equipment and displays like a forensic expert might survey a crime scene in an old mystery story. The away team members that were present during this time eventually replaced their oxygen canisters as their levels began running dangerously low as the process continued. She rarely spoke to anyone as she continued; apparently too absorbed in the process to engage in small talk or explain exactly what she was doing to anyone.

Another unusual thing they noticed about the Bajoran when she worked was that she also incorporated an old-fashioned artists sketch pad and a collections of pencils that she somehow managed to use with the cumbersome gloves; in addition to her electronic science PADD. The others could barely even hold the pencils steadily let alone master the skill of drawing with them. Not that they didn't try, if only out of curiosity. But she customized her gloves after the first session to allow greater agility at handling such things. Then she had a vertical pouch added to the side of her environmental suit where she kept a series of pencils and handled them readily after a bit of practice. 

This process continued on for hours and then eventually worked itself into days. Members of the away team in due course were coming and going into and out of the chamber, scanning, taking small samples, gathering information and then in time leaving to rest. But the Bajoran was operating as if she were a robust Vulcan; ignoring both sleep and nutrition until cajoled or threatened into reluctantly addressing both necessities.

The captain was surprisingly patient throughout this process. He realized that the magnitude of this undertaking would not yield immediate results. This would be an ongoing and arduous process to try to unlock keys to an unknown civilization and its possibly forgotten language. The Bajoran shared with the captain some very rudimentary patterns within pages of her sketch pad that she had just discovered in her work thus far, as she strived to create a basic paradigm of this language.

Meanwhile after the first day, the away team had also discovered a small chamber adjacent to where the ship was found that was even more puzzling in some ways than the original one the linguist was still working in. Kalynda and the others had no idea what to make of this facility. It was rather ulitarian in design and seemed to lack the sort of majesty and artistry that the other chambers conveyed. Yet in some way, it seemed more purposeful; although whatever purpose it served was totally lost on any of them at the time. Nevertheless, they diligently went about scanning, sampling and cataloging the area like a team of earnest archeologists at a dig site; but without the picks, shovels, brushes and other related antiquated tools.   

On the fourth day, the Bajoran made a breakthrough in the small chamber. She signaled for the first officer who at the time was in one of the other chambers.

"Commander Riker, could you come back here for a moment?"

Tapping his combadge Riker responded

"On my way"

Riker nodded at the security members as if to convey the order of them covering point as he walked back towards where he was needed.

When he arrived, she tried to use her PADD to explain what she believed she uncovered.

"Commander, I was comparing these symbols on a series of panels from the front chamber with the controls and a series of markings here throughout panels in this facility. There was something familiar about these arrangement that I just could not put my finger on."

She then pointed to her construction paper pad resting on the ground near one set of panels.

"I was not certain Commander, but when I took all of these symbols I drew here on my artist pad from these columns of symbols" she noted as she pointed to the alien panel she was standing in front of,"lined these up and put them all in a three-dimensional matrix... well, you can see here..."

Alenis held up her PADD to River's visor and pointed to the moving set of images as she spoke.

"Sir... it looks like these are forming a double-helix... like a molecule that encodes the genetic instructions for all living things. I think that all of these symbols here are representing some form of DNA strands!

The Bajoran then lower the PADD down just as the Andorian Kalynda Hunter came in proximity of them. Alenis didn't skip a beat as she proceeded with her deduction.

"If this is so Commander, then I would speculate that perhaps this room itself could be some sort of elaborate genetic repository."

"I'd like to point out to our esteemed newly arrived colleague here that what she's saying is not entirely accurate."

Everyone looked at Elliago as he pointed at the markings Alenis had described as the representation of a DNA double helix.

"The double helix pattern attributed to DNA is common to our form of life, the one mostly associated with M class worlds and defined as carbon-based. However, this is not universal.  For example, the carbon-based lifeform of Fluidic Space known as the Undine has a triple double-helix genetic strand; and both silicon-based lifeforms like the Horta or the Tholians and artificial lifeforms like sentient holograms and androids have none at all."

His gaze swept among everyone as he spoke.

"The only thing this tells us so far is that whoever or whatever made this is at least possibly interested in our form of life," pointed out Doctor Nasaro-Myth. "But, although the controls of those systems would seem to indicate so at first glance, that does not mean that whoever or whatever made this actually belongs to our kind of life."

He looked at Commander Riker who from the start had been responsibly cautious throughout the entire mission.

"This also means that we cannot make any presumption about their way of thinking. A dolphin is pretty close as a lifeform to a Human, yet they think and react differently."

Alenis listened closely as the Deltan doctor spoke.

"Thank you doctor, for that medical insight" the Bajoran responded."My specialty is in linguistics, therefore I don't have the biological background or expertise that you possess.  I am merely speculating based on these symbols that I am striving to decipher."

The smile of the handsome Deltan was dazzling even through his faceplate.

"Mine is Xenology, so I ought to contribute something since no one here had been toughtful enough  to break a leg or catch a cold."

Despite his words, it was clear that he was in fact mightily relieved that his medical skills had been, so far, unrequired.

Looking back down at the PADD for a moment she looked back up to the Deltan doctor.

"Since this was only one set of countless patterns found throughout this facility, perhaps you could work with me on these other markings and arrangements Doctor. We may be able to unlock other genetic codes, like the ones you mentioned."

Looking back up at the doctor Riker smiled.

"You heard the lady doctor.  You said you do not think we  should be here, maybe you will change your mind if you can find out more about what is going on."

"It's not my mind I'm worried about," grumbled Elliago with a forced smile to alleviate his own tension while his eyes wandered on the alien decor around them.

Patting the doctor on the shoulder Riker began to walk back to his point position up forward turning back for only a moment.

"Get to it you two let me know as soon as you find out anything."

"On it Sir" came the reply from the Bajoran who continued working as the order was given.   

A combination of individual and collaborative efforts soon followed. At times the Linguist and the CMO divided and conquered, applying their individual attention and expertise on different sections of the panels, consoles, and other division of the facility. Then at other times, they come back together and discussed, analyzed and then eventually hypothesized what they believed that they had found.

Kalynda Hunter was engaged in a similar approach as well; basically shadowing aspects of what the others were doing, but slightly divergent based on her individual and unique scientific perspective.

But it was all rather overwhelming for the three of them handling the brunt of this work.

When the executive officer came around again, Kalynda called him over.

"Commander Riker, would it be possible to bring down additional experts in genetics and biology from the Phoenix to help as well? Their insight might speed up this process a bit... just as the linguist has. I just wish we had a dozen more like her too."

Listening to the request Riker glanced around the room and began to count and estimate in his head.  Judging the size of the hallways and the rooms to the number of people they could safely handle Riker thought for a moment.

"We are starting to get full to capacity as it is, but I figure we can hold maybe three more.  If we lose transporters again it is going to be standing room only on the Phoenix getting all these people out of here however."

Looking around and seeing the security personnel at the various watch points Riker nodded.

"Alright send the request up for your experts, but first see if there are any biologists who have a mastery of genetics.  I want to minimize the amount of people down here."

Pointing over at the security team Riker continued.

"Also tell them I recommend bringing down another security personnel if we are going to have this many non combatants down here."

"Commander," then suggested Elliago,"I recommend that tranporter scanners be set for a skeletal lock on everyone.  By adjusting the settings to each individual biometrics cross-referenced to their specific medical files, we would be able to transport people out even, through heavy interference, by locking on the specific mineral components in the bones of each... even cartilaginous ones like our Andorian lady here. It's a trickier, longer beam out and slightly painful and dizzying... but if we experience transport inhibitions as before, this would still allow us to return to the ship." 

Kalynda nodded in agreement as the CMO spoke.

"Maybe we could set-up enhanced pattern buffers in here to amplify theses signals too." Kalynda added.

"Just like Commander Riker told us security chief Josh Vincent did outside of the Wildfire... in case the signal in here is not quite strong or stable enough."

Riker nodded in agreement.

"Good idea we need constant contact.  Not to mention with all the new people down here it is going to be standing room only if we have to share the shuttle back. "

Laughing to himself Riker pointed to Kalynda and continued.

"We will have to have at least two people and our bag of rock samples on your lap alone"

Kalynda was not certain whether the first officer was serious or not, so she just responded with a quizzical expression behind her visor.

*             *             *

Aboard the USS Phoenix in synchronous orbit directly above the away team on the planetoid surface, Captain Syntron had just finished stepping out of a shower and was in the process of getting dressed into a new uniform when he received the call in his quarters for the addition of a couple of geneticists along with security officers.

Since the pattern enhancers had been placed and activated, the captain had decided to start a duty rotation of key personnel to the planetoid site. As he indicated to Commander Riker, the addition of the requested personnel seemed a logical decision and would be implemented expeditiously.

Moments later, Syntron exited his quarters and rode the turbolift one flight up to deck one and onto the main bridge of the starship. After checking the ship status with each department representative present,  he made his way back into the Ready Room and activated his terminal.

After passing multiple security protocols, Syntron sat down at his desk and called-up personnel files to narrow down potential candidates.  Once he put in the geneticist request, the image of the woman from the shuttle Sagan he met several weeks ago in the Ember Lounge immediately popped into view. After briefly perusing her file, the captain contacted her with a request to meet him in the Ready Room at 1430 hours to discuss her potential participation with the away team as the lead geneticist down in the caverns on the surface. She appeared rather intrigued by the prospect of this task.

Afterward, the captain made arrangements with Adalia Valerous for a security rotation to commence between the ship and the surface. This would provide away team experience for officers that had limited experience in working in environmental suits for extended periods and give rest to those that had been on duty down there for extended shifts. 

Kathleen couldn't contain her excitement. Mentally she ticked of items she can take down to the surface. Most certainly her holographic projector, it's a wee bit cumbersome but if she can identify just one of the sigils, her adjusted PADD will do the rest. Adding a stylus and graphic board in her bag, she hurriedly locked her room and headed towards the Ready Room. No sense in keeping the Captain waiting.

She tentatively pushed the doorbell....Is it a doorbell?? and the deep voice of Captain Syntron bid her enter.

"Lieutenant JG Friedman reporting, Sir!" Does one salute? Well rather more than less, she thought and snapped to attention and kept the salute.

"Welcome Lieutenant. Please have a seat." The captain noted, as he gestured for the lieutenant to accept a seat on the other side of his table facing him. "There is no need to salute Lieutenant. We reserve those formalities for actual formal occasions.""

"Thank you, Sir." Kathleen sat down, setting her bag next to her feet on the floor. "I beg your pardon, Sir. I only once served on a Star Fleet ship and the Captain insisted on formality."

"Understood Lieutenant" the captain confirmed.

"As you may have noted, the mission occurring down on the planetoid is rather... intriguing. Having examined your extensive background in genetics, it would appear that your area of expertise could be potentially beneficial to our away team. I wanted to confirm your level of interest in participating in this endeavour, and check to see if there were provisions that you may require to assist you in this undertaking."

"Yes Sir! I would dearly love to be part of the mission. My specialities are Exploratory and Evolutionary genetics and if there is something down there I can add to my archive... With you permission of course and only if it won't affect the who, what or why. As to the equipment," she motioned towards the bag at her feet, "What I need for an assessment, I have right here. I will have a better idea after that. When do I leave, Sir?"

 "As soon as you have an environmental suit prepared you can depart Lieutenant." the captain responded. "I will have the Ops officer confirm with your medical records to have the suit prepared and ready for you in transporter one on deck three."

Looking back at his terminal display for a moment, the captain added "If you find that you require additional assistance down on the surface, notify Commander Riker immediately. He will see to accommodating whatever you need."

"Thank you, Sir. I will do just that." She picked up her bag and stood. "Anything else I need to know, Captain?"

The captain then stood as well as he spoke.

"Just remember all of your Starfleet training Lieutenant. Although we have yet to encounter any hostile beings down on the surface, the environment itself is extremely frigid and inhospitable. Because of this, you will need to monitor the condition of your suit and your respiratory supply levels at regular intervals."

With that, the captain concluded. "Dismissed Lieutenant."

With a nod, Friedman turned and exited the room and took the lift down to the main transporter room.

Kathleen shivered.

There won’t be any time in the future that she will get used to being zapped from place to place.  Trying to get rid of the static that always accompanies such a trip, she sneezed a couple of times while mouthing a few choice words when the static nipped at her ears.

"Who's in charge here?" demanded Kathleen, not even looking up from stamping her feet.

The frowing of his brow gave away the anger he was feeling towards Kathleen at the moment.

"That would be me."

Kathleen was taken aback slightly by the angry tone coming from the Commander.

“I would assume any officer would know the first officer is in charge of away missions.  Academy 101 last I checked.  I hope this mistake never happens again"

Before Kathleen could nod or speak Riker cut her off.

"Don’t you read the reports I sent to your computer?” 

"No, Sir!" Kathleen replied, stretching to her full height, but still needed to bend nearly backwards to look into his face.

"I prefer to look over the subject, draw my own conclusions and then read reports from those before me. That way, I don't let others' perceptions cloud my decisions."

Without waiting for an answer, she glanced around.

“Is there something wrong with the lighting?”

It was then that she realized that her eyes adapted to the near darkness in the chamber. She tried frantically to change it back to suit her human form but to her horror, she felt the rest of her body following changing.

“Hey Doc!” The welcome yell from Fallon broke the icy silence between Kathleen and Riker. “You have to adjust your headset, otherwise all this pretty colors will blind you!” Fallon slapped her cheerily on the back.

“Careful, Fallon, you may cause me an injury and then I will have to send you on a spacewalk!”

Fallon laughed. "No way you will do that, I am the only one that can work with you."

"Doctor Friedman," Kalynda spoke to the geneticist soon after she arrived, "if you set your visor to 245 nm in the Ultraviolet range, you may be able to see better in this environment."

“Thank you, Lieutenant Hunter. Perhaps you can lead the way…?”

Kathleen followed the Andorian woman towards a big table stacked with, of all things, papers and PADD’s. “Who made the first connection with DNA?”

“That would be Lieutenant Alenis Leeta.” She motioned towards a woman sketching, erasing, and sketching at an amazing speed. She lowered the pad and pencil when she heard her name and smiled shyly.

Kathleen nodded in Alenis’s direction.

“Great to meet you. May I ask you to show me around and give me a short run down on everything you have done so far? I think it best to set up my gear where you have found the DNA similarities and see what I can glean towards the knowledge pool here.”  

She looked at the Andorian. “Please, join us. Fallon, are you coming?”

“With you, Boss Lady!”

Kathleen rolled her eyes at Fallon.

“Here I thought I am the only one who doesn’t observe rank and title! But ladies, please call me Kathleen, or Doctor. I am not set on protocol, except…well, that’s not an appropriate subject! Show me what you found, Kalynda.”

“Well,” Kalynda related the findings of the past few days,”…and then we found this. This looks like some kind of control room but we haven’t yet made head or tails out of it, though Alenis has been working steadily on it.”

Kathleen turned to Alenis. “Did you find something?”

“Not yet,” Alenis responded, “though some of them look the same, but I noticed slight differences.”

“What kind of differences? The form itself, or…”

Alenis turned to the wall nearest the entrance of the labyrinth of corridors leading the alien ship. She pointed to a symbol.

“This one is the same as this one,” she indicated another one a few inches to the left, “except for…” She sighed.

“Yes? Go ahead.” Kathleen prodded.

“No one else see it. I feel like a fool coming back to this time and time again. I can’t put my finger on it, but…” She stabbed with her finger at the symbols,

“The color isn’t as sharp as the first one and here,” she pointed at the bottom of the symbol, “it appears to me that this symbols ends with a curl with a dot in the middle of it.”

She indicated the other nearly identical symbol. “This one ends with a curl as well, but no dot.”

Kathleen leaned in closer to inspect the two symbols.

“I have to agree with you. There is a slight color variance and that is definitely a dot, or a period in this one. Fallon, Kalynda, do you not see it?”

The two women took turns to inspect the symbols. Both shook their heads, shrugging.

“Now that’s interesting…” Kathleen turned towards the entrance. “Is there something in here?”

“Not really, just a maze that is quite easily navigable. I speculate that this maybe living quarters, though we haven’t been able to find a door.”

Kathleen felt excitement building up. This wasn’t just a few days’ worth of inspection, it will take years to fully understand and catalogue everything. She stared in wonderment at the colossal ship in an equally impressive cavern after navigating the labyrinth.  

“Impressive! Is there staff allocated to work here, yet?”

“Not yet, Doctor,” Alenis responded. “I don’t know exactly when they are planning to search this part, though I remember Commander Riker telling us this part of the caverns is off limits for now.”

“Great! Now, please! Don’t make me beg, take me to the double helix!”

After walking a few minutes, they stopped in front of the dark entrance to the cavern.

“Is this it?” Kathleen asked and without further ado, stepped through the dark doorway.

Immediately she screamed, grabbing her helmet while the colorful sigils started to glow around her.

“What the…”

Kalynda grabbed Kathleen's arm and pulled her out of the cavern. She pressed her helmet against Kathleen’s, looking worried.

“Are you all right Doctor? What happened?”

Kathleen opened her eyes.

“You all didn’t hear that? My eardrums nearly burst! An extremely high pitched screeching sound.” She looked at the bewildered faces around her. “Really? Wow.”

She closed her eyes again, concentrating on equalizing her hearing to the sound still going strong inside the room.

“It’s not so noticeable outside, but man!” She shook her head.

Alenis stared at Kathleen. “You are not fully human, are you Doctor?”

Kathleen swore silently. She had hoped for a few more weeks before people start to notice that she doesn’t quite fit the human mold. Though her tail drew little or no comment or looks the few times she forgot to curl it around her thigh when she arrived at the Phoenix.

“Quite correct, Alenis,” she confirmed. “I am part Draylaxian...,” She stopped talking. “What?”

“But…but…I thought,” Alenis stammered. 

“Hybrid, remember? Just two, like a normal human being.” She concentrated a few seconds on adjusting her hearing.

“Right, that will have to do. Shall we try again?”

That said, she stepped gingerly into the room, sighing loudly when the volume of the sound was at an acceptable level.

“Great! All right girls, before you leave me here, do something for me, will you?”

Kalynda and Alenis both nodded agreeably and stepped into the cavern.

Kathleen pointed to one of the symbols, seemingly drifting a few feet above the floor.

“Tell me what you see. No, don’t look up your notes and forget everything you’ve heard, disregard your previous assumptions, just clear your minds. You may close your eyes a few seconds and then,” she gestured to the symbol again, “describe exactly what you all see here.”

When Fallon tried to speak, Kathleen stopped her by lifting a hand.

“I think it will be better if we all write down what we see, including the shape, the colors-and please, when I say colors, no magenta stuff, just name the original color with the variances between light, medium and dark. Look very carefully. You need to make sure what your mind and eyes tell you, are exactly what you see. I will do the same.”

Nearly an hour later, Kathleen stared dumbfounded at the results the other women sent to her PADD.

Four people: Betazoid, Andorian, Human and one Hybrid. Four species. Four women on top of their chosen fields with diverse knowledge of all things science, and they all see something different. The only thing that they agreed upon was the double helix.

What is going on here?

Deep in thought she unpacked her equipment, erecting a slim force field to hold everything away from the floors and walls. With that done, she started with new vigor to scan every symbol and sigil.

She will solve this puzzle, she promised herself grimly.

                                                                                              *          *          *

Thirty-six hours after sending Doctors Friedman and Fallon to the surface, the captain thought it was time for him to visit these caverns. He arranged for Lieutenant Grexx Aulder to transport back from the Wildfire and assume the post in the center seat while Riker was still down officially supervising the away team mission. Syntron was not arriving to replace him, but was instead going to inspect this site for himself and perhaps briefly assist with aspects of deciphering process during his visit. 

After being outfitted with a unique environmental suit, Syntron safely beamed down within the triangulation of pattern enhancers in the first chamber of the cavern. With multiple transport sites now established outside of the shuttle and within all three chambers of these caverns, it was becoming more routine to have designated personnel moving between the ship and the planetoid compared to when the original team first arrived.

As the captain shimmered into view planet-side, security chief Josh Vincent was there to escort him to the third chamber where the main team were working on the deciphering process. However, Syntron took some time to first inspect the enormous first chamber with his visor set at 245 nm range the UV wavelength, as recommended. It was a rather fascinating setup the Vulcan admitted to himself as he eventually pulled himself away from this  chamber and entered the next one hosting the spacecraft.

The captain spent close to an hour scrutinizing all aspect of the craft's design before exiting into the smaller chamber where the genetic and linguistic analysis was occurring.

As he approached the group, the captain could see that they were all conferring around a large makeshift table. He could see drawings and patterns being arranged like a gigantic puzzle with many missing pieces. It reminded the captain of something he saw in his formative years representing the early work from Dmitri Mendeleev as he was making predictions about elements while he worked on a matrix that later evolved into the Periodic Table of Elements.

Similar to Mendeleev, together these team members were striving to assemble a mysterious jigsaw with many pieces still missing and with other pieces present but not quite fitting into the current design. However, this endeavor involved entire sets of complex alien language symbols. They were now trying to create their own workable matrix in order to decipher at least aspects of it.

But listening to them converse, they were also discussing predictions of current and missing pieces along with potential consequences of misinterpretations. They were apparently on the cusp of reaching a point where some of this matrix of a language was about ready to be initially tested.

The captain entered their circle, and after their initial surprise at his arrival, the team continued their discussion and afterward, offered a summation of where they stood in this process.

Linguist Alenis Leeta addressed the captain.

"Sir, were are now making progress at a primarily fundamental level. I would say that we're are delving into areas of the emergence of syntax and just stepping into aspects of the early phase of multi-unit utterances in regards to interpretation of this language. I am recommending that we use some of this acquired knowledge to experiment with simple commands in the main chamber." 

Captain Syntron looked through his visor at the young linguists for a moment before responding.

"Commander Riker and I may agree to a sample test; provided that this is implemented on a control agreed on to be  innocuous in nature. This in itself may take some time as you must first work to ascertain the general purpose of each station before we consider any thoughts to activate or deactivate any perceived simple feature on it."

Kalynda Hunter nodded in agreement.

"Perhaps Captain, if we break into small teams we may be able to cover more ground. We can then reconvene anytime a discovery is made or questions and such arise."

With a slightly raised brow beneath his visor, the captain noted "You may want to confer with Commander Riker in regards to such a decision involving the configurations of teams Lieutenant. I just arrived here. The commander is not only in charge of this mission, but is currently more cognizant of the specific activities that have been occurring here along with their outcome."

Slightly embarrassed, the Andorian's helmet dipped slightly downward.

"Understood Sir" as she then turned and moments later made the same request to Commander Riker.

Shaking his head as if to approve Riker continued his work as if to have nothing to say.  No words passed the Commander's lips but everyone in the cavern could see the mounting displeasure he had with the Andorian in front of him.

And it did not escape the chief medical officer of the Phoenix.

"Patience, Commander," softly suggested Elliago, "she's Andorian; she's been conditionned from infancy to rely on rules to survive, not on flexibility like you Humans have. Moreover, you do have experience; she does not. She's bound to get confused with things like formal rank and mission protocol under pressure or excitement facing the unknown... especially if that unknown challenges her very own field of expertise."

The Deltan did not add especially after doing all the wrong things the wrong way for the wrong reasons as he thought.

He now knew that, among all of them, he was the only one morally opposed to their actions since they had discovered the alien artifacts. And that was what was getting him confused. But he had been overruled and the mission was proceeding, this time under the direct gaze of the approving captain. The worst thing he could do was to add to the tension and the confusion by voicing further his own doubts. He did not have the excuse of racial conditionning and inexperience like Kalynda.

They were committed.; and so was he.  All he could do now was to stick to his duty as a medical officer, hoping, as always, that he wouldn't have to. And prevention was the best medecine of all. In the present situation, helping to alleviate, and avoid, personal tensions between them would go a long way to ensure their health and safety, here and now.

Kalynda followed along with the linguist and the geneticist as they worked their way back into the main chamber. As they walked, they conversed about details they noticed on each of the six walls within that large cavern. They decided to continue their investigation on an area that appeared to have a greater proportion of symbols that they had mapped out in their matrix in hopes that it could yield more qualitative results. 

After several hours, they determined that they were working on a control panel designed to regulate environmental controls within the chamber.

Once she had cross-referenced their linguistic matrix repeatedly, Alenis disclosed her hypothesis as she gestured.

"I believe that this specific panel controls atmospheric composition and this device here regulates temperature in this chamber alone."

Kalynda then got a bit excited.

"If you adjust one of these controls very gradually, I can use my tricorder to register any changes that occur."

"Give me a moment here," Alenis responded  "it looks like this display is indicating a series of elements and compounds. If I adjust each of these devices, one at a time, perhaps you can measure this on your tricorder and we can begin to decipher these symbols as well."

Alenis then turned around to face the executive officer.

"Permission to proceed Commander Riker?"

Riker glanced over the object in front of the officer.  Seeing no danger and knowing the mission at hand Riker nodded in approval as if to say proceed.

Alenis then turned back toward the apparent control panel and focused her attention as she began to adjust the first digital slider.

Kalynda stood nearby measuring atmospheric conditions within the room as the Bajoran made incremental alterations.

Within a few moments, Kalynda announced to the team that the nitrogen level within the main chamber just increased 7.3% as her eyes stayed fixed on the display.

Alenis stopped and marked down the symbol for nitrogen into her PADD rather than her sketch pad to save time. She would transfer this onto her art pad at some point afterward.

She then switched to a different symbol and then made slow incremental adjustments once again.

"Argon just increased 1.37%" the Andorian proclaimed.

This process continued until they mapped out the symbols for five normal gases and six noble gases.

Kalynda then noted as she addressed the executive officer once again.

"It would appear Commander Riker that we would could now reconfigure the atmosphere within this chamber to a breathable atmosphere... if we needed to."

Alenis turned toward the Andorian.

"Well, until we find the thermostat and raise the temperature significantly, that won't do us much good."

Kalynda nodded affirmatively  "Indeed."

Alenis pondered out loud "But I wonder if there are controls for liquids as well?"

With a puzzled expression visible through her visor Kalynda inquired.

"What, like bromine or mercury? It is too cold in this environment anyway. Besides, we have oxygen and hydrogen now. We could make water. If we find some other key elements here then we could even create compounds as well... without a replicator."

Kalynda then gazed around her for a moment which immediately put things back in perspective.

"Well at the moment, we have too many other panels to test before we turn into planetary alchemists. Let us get back to our primary task at hand."

Twenty-seven minutes later, the small group discovered a control knob for chamber temperature.

Kalynda noted after confirming this discovery.

"We will need to ensure that any potential modifications in temperature introduced here do not adversely affect anything within this chamber." 

"You know very well that we just did," said Doctor Nasaro-Myth without even looking at his tricorder. "By introducing oxygen in here, oxydation has started and therefore atomic alteration and decay with, among other things, the potential for combustion... and cellular activity."

The implications of what he brought to their mind  were obvious to all of them; their actions had started conditions for atomic reaction and thus chemical activity of what had been so far preserved by the vacuum of space. But more to the point; any system relying on combustion or exchange of electrons could now activate properly... possibly reintroducing structural weaknesses from decay or rust... and traps; and any dormant life could now... awaken.

"The question is rather; to what extent," he finished, looking around once again with a frown on his handsome face.

"Commander, since we now have... determined the function of that particular control panel, I recommend that we restore things back to their original state before proceeding further. Altering things here merely for the sake of our personal... comfort would not be... wise."

Now his tricorder was before him as he for his part narrowed the bandwith of the instrument to better search for organic compounds and microbiological presence or activity not their own.

Alenis smiled behind her visor.

"I am already resetting each of these controls back to their original positions once we have determined their identity Doctor Myth" the Betezoid noted as she recalibrated each control back to the original configuration.

Kalynda rechecked her tricorder to substantiate.

"All readings are back to their original settings" the Andorian scientist verified.

The team then continued on to the next set of consoles to proceed with a similar process.

*             *             *

After several hours of, Kathleen absentmindedly checked her chronometer - wait, already eight hours after their last meal? - bending and turning in unnatural positions to scan the odd grouping of the symbols, Kathleen was ready to call it a day.  She tapped her oxygen tank lightly. Mmm, also near time for a refill. Passing on the latest in a string of rotated PADD’s to Fallon, she was surprised to find her doing a small jig over the adapted console.

“What’s up, Fallon?”She enquired curiously.

“A moment, Doc, just a few seconds more…”Still swinging her hips to some internal beat, she simultaneously punched a few buttons on the console, took the PADD from Kathleen, added that information and let her finger hover over the execute button.

Her smiling face couldn’t quite hide the excitement behind the evosuite faceplate. She cleared her throat noisily and asked in a put on formal voice.

“Doctor Kathleen Friedman, do you concur that I, Doctor Fallon, just added the last of the scan to the data base for this here chamber?”Her finger took up the jig over the button. Kathleen decided to play along.

“Confirmed, Doctor Fallon.”She cocked her head.

“Is it time to start the comparison routine?”She wondered silently  how her parents curbed her natural exuberance or if they had, like so many parents in the past, thought that she had some kind of abnormality and tried to medicate it out of her.  No, or else Fallon would have been one of the empty headed adults in some institution. Why people ever thought that being born happy and active were a mistake of nature, she still cannot fathom.

Fallon’s face fell.

“Well, Doctor, I’m afraid I jumped the gun a bit...”She looked sheepishly up at Kathleen.

“Oh no! What have you done this time?”Kathleen couldn’t stop the note of censure in her tone.

“I…uhmmm…well…”she waved the jigging finger in the air. An explosive breath left her mouth.

“Well, I…ran the routine while I added the scan results…”She dipped her head. When she lifted her head again after a few seconds, she grabbed Kathleen by the arm.

“But you should see this Kathleen, It’s…it’s…awesome! Look!”

With that, she punched the execute button and several holographic images changed with amazing speed over the printer.

“It’s going too fast for me to make any sense out of it. What am I looking at?”Kathleen asked in a puzzled voice.

“Oh, so sorry! I’ve been look at it all the while and…”She slowed the display. “Look at it again.”

The display repeated it a few times before Kathleen could make the connection.

“Oh my!”she exclaimed. “Oh dear, we better close that door!” She hastened to the door connecting the front chamber to the rest of ‘their’ cavern. She just let out a sigh of relief when the air suddenly start to shimmer and the klaxon sound that she toned down to a barely there sound, caroled full volume in the confined space.

Kathleen screamed and clapped her hands ineffectively over her headset. She tumbled to the ground, overwhelmed by the noise.

A rushing sound made Fallon look up. The door connecting them to rest of the group closed the final few inches just before she could reach it. For a moment she stood undecided; the door? Kathleen?

She stepped towards Kathleen who at that moment, sat up, shaking her head dizzily.

“What in tarnation was that?”she asked in a faint voice.

Fallon plopped herself down next to Kathleen.

“I don’t know, but I think we are cut off from the rest of the crew. My comms are dead. As a matter of fact, my evosuit is getting awfully warm.”

She tapped the readout against her faceplate.

“It says my oxygen is nearly gone, the heating system is critical and that…oh my, oh my…the suit has been compromised.”

She turned to Kathleen. “We are gonna die here, in less than fifteen minutes. Well, not that we will be feeling much at that time…” her voice tapered off.

Kathleen tapped her own faceplate.

“Yep, mine says the same as yours. We better use the time wisely, then. If and when the rest of the crew notices that we are not responding or reporting, we should leave them the conclusion we came to here.”

She shrugged. “It was one hell of the ride, don’t you agree, Fallon?”

“Quite so, Kathleen. We better start then.”

She sluggishly lifted her hand and pulled the console and data base down. She caught it before it reached the floor.

“Computer, start recording…”